Ex-LAPD officer believed dead; gunshot, then fire

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Los Angeles Police Department shows suspect Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles police officer. A law enforcement official tells The Associated Press, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013, that a charred body inside the ruins of a mountain cabin that went up in flames is believed to be that of Dorner, suspected in four killings. Other agencies say a body has yet to be found. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Police Department, File)
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FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Los Angeles Police Department shows suspect Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles police officer. A law enforcement official tells The Associated Press, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013, that a charred body inside the ruins of a mountain cabin that went up in flames is believed to be that of Dorner, suspected in four killings. Other agencies say a body has yet to be found. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Police Department, File)
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In this image provided by the Irvine, Calif., Police Department via The Orange County Register, former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner is shown. Dorner is a suspect in the killings of Monica Quan and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, who were found shot to death in their car at a parking structure Sunday night. (AP Photo/Irvine Police Department via The Orange County Register)— AP

In this image provided by the Irvine, Calif., Police Department via The Orange County Register, former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner is shown. Dorner is a suspect in the killings of Monica Quan and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, who were found shot to death in their car at a parking structure Sunday night. (AP Photo/Irvine Police Department via The Orange County Register)
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Los Angeles Police Commander Andrew Smith, left, expresses condolences for the death of a San Bernardino County deputy, as he briefs the media about the shootout scene in Big Bear that allegedly involves triple-murder suspect Christopher Jordan Dorner, during a late news conference in front of the Police Administration Building in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. Lt. Bill Whalen, of the Irvine Police Department, middle and LAPD officer Norma Eisenman, right, stand with Smith. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)— AP

Los Angeles Police Commander Andrew Smith, left, expresses condolences for the death of a San Bernardino County deputy, as he briefs the media about the shootout scene in Big Bear that allegedly involves triple-murder suspect Christopher Jordan Dorner, during a late news conference in front of the Police Administration Building in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. Lt. Bill Whalen, of the Irvine Police Department, middle and LAPD officer Norma Eisenman, right, stand with Smith. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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Law enforcement officers check a vehicle at a roadblock Tuesday Feb. 12, 2013 near Big Bear, Calif. A man police believe to be the fugitive ex-Los Angeles officer wanted in three killings was barricaded inside a burning cabin Tuesday after a shootout in this California mountain town that left one deputy dead and another wounded. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)— AP

Law enforcement officers check a vehicle at a roadblock Tuesday Feb. 12, 2013 near Big Bear, Calif. A man police believe to be the fugitive ex-Los Angeles officer wanted in three killings was barricaded inside a burning cabin Tuesday after a shootout in this California mountain town that left one deputy dead and another wounded. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
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Redlands Police officers man a blockade near the entrance to the San Bernardino National Forest after a fugitive ex-Los Angeles cop sought in three killings engaged in a shootout with authorities that wounded two officers in the San Bernardino Mountains near Big Bear Lake, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/The Sun, Gabriel Luis Acosta) VENTURA COUNTY STAR OUT; RIVERSIDE PRESS-ENTERPRISE OUT; THE VICTOR VALLEY DAILY PRESS OUT— AP

Redlands Police officers man a blockade near the entrance to the San Bernardino National Forest after a fugitive ex-Los Angeles cop sought in three killings engaged in a shootout with authorities that wounded two officers in the San Bernardino Mountains near Big Bear Lake, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/The Sun, Gabriel Luis Acosta) VENTURA COUNTY STAR OUT; RIVERSIDE PRESS-ENTERPRISE OUT; THE VICTOR VALLEY DAILY PRESS OUT
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Redlands Police officers man a blockade near the entrance to the San Bernardino National Forest in southern California after Christopher Dorner, a fugitive ex-Los Angeles cop sought in three killings, engaged in a shootout with authorities that wounded two officers in the San Bernardino Mountains near Big Bear Lake, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/The Sun, Gabriel Luis Acosta) VENTURA COUNTY STAR OUT; RIVERSIDE PRESS-ENTERPRISE OUT; THE VICTOR VALLEY DAILY PRESS OUT— AP

Redlands Police officers man a blockade near the entrance to the San Bernardino National Forest in southern California after Christopher Dorner, a fugitive ex-Los Angeles cop sought in three killings, engaged in a shootout with authorities that wounded two officers in the San Bernardino Mountains near Big Bear Lake, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/The Sun, Gabriel Luis Acosta) VENTURA COUNTY STAR OUT; RIVERSIDE PRESS-ENTERPRISE OUT; THE VICTOR VALLEY DAILY PRESS OUT
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A Redlands Police officer inspects a vehicle near the entrance to the San Bernardino National Forest, Calif. after fugitive ex-Los Angeles cop Christopher Dorner, sought in three killings, is believed to have engaged in a shootout with authorities that wounded two officers in the San Bernardino Mountains near Big Bear Lake, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/The Sun, Gabriel Luis Acosta) LA TIMES; VENTURA COUNTY STAR; RIVERSIDE PRESSENTERPRISE; THE VICTOR VALLEY DAILY PRESS OUT MANDATORY CREDIT— AP

A Redlands Police officer inspects a vehicle near the entrance to the San Bernardino National Forest, Calif. after fugitive ex-Los Angeles cop Christopher Dorner, sought in three killings, is believed to have engaged in a shootout with authorities that wounded two officers in the San Bernardino Mountains near Big Bear Lake, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/The Sun, Gabriel Luis Acosta) LA TIMES; VENTURA COUNTY STAR; RIVERSIDE PRESSENTERPRISE; THE VICTOR VALLEY DAILY PRESS OUT MANDATORY CREDIT
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In this image taken from video provided by KABC-TV, the cabin in Big Bear, Calif. where ex-Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner is believed to be barricaded inside is in flames Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/KABC-TV) MANDATORY CREDIT: KABC-TV— AP

In this image taken from video provided by KABC-TV, the cabin in Big Bear, Calif. where ex-Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner is believed to be barricaded inside is in flames Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/KABC-TV) MANDATORY CREDIT: KABC-TV
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BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. 
As police scoured mountain peaks for days, using everything from bloodhounds to high-tech helicopters, the revenge-seeking ex-cop they wanted was hiding among them, holed up in a vacation cabin across the street from their command post.

It was there that Christopher Dorner apparently took refuge last Thursday, four days after beginning a deadly rampage that would claim four lives.

The search ended Tuesday when a man believed to be Dorner bolted from hiding, stole two cars, barricaded himself in a vacant cabin and mounted a last stand in a furious shootout in which he killed one sheriff's deputy and wounded another before the building erupted in flames.

He never emerged from the ruins and hours later a charred body was found inside.

"We have reason to believe that it is him," San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Cynthia Bachman said.

Dorner, 33, had said in a lengthy rant police believe he posted on Facebook that he expected to die in one final, violent confrontation with police, and if it was him in the cabin that's just what happened.

The apparent end came very close to where his trail went cold six days earlier when his burning pickup truck - with guns and camping gear inside - was abandoned with a broken axle on a fire road in the San Bernardino National Forest near the ski resort town of Big Bear Lake.

His footprints led away from the truck and vanished on frozen soil.

With no sign of him and few leads, police offered a $1 million reward to bring him to justice and end a "reign of terror" that had more than 50 families of targeted Los Angeles police officers under round-the-clock protection after he threatened to bring "warfare" to the LAPD, officers and their kin.

Just a few hours after police announced Tuesday that they had fielded more than 1,000 tips with no sign of Dorner, word came that a man matching his description had tied up two people in a Big Bear Lake cabin, stole their car and fled. Authorities didn't immediately give more details on the two people.

Game wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who were part of the search detail spotted the purple Nissan that had been reported stolen going in the opposite direction and gave chase, department spokesman Lt. Patrick Foy said. The driver looked like Dorner.

They lost the purple car after it passed a school bus and turned onto a side road, but two other Fish and Wildlife patrols turned up that road a short time later, and were searching for the car when a white pickup truck sped erratically toward the wardens.

"He took a close look at the driver and realized it was the suspect," Foy said.

Dorner, who allegedly stole the pickup truck at gunpoint after crashing the first car, rolled down a window and opened fire on the wardens, striking a warden's truck more than a dozen times.